2009 - Project Samhain. A secret underground government installation begun 103 years ago in New Mexico. The best minds in the world have been recruited to study the most amazing discovery in the history of mankind. But the century of peaceful research is about to end.

BECAUSE IT JUST WOKE UP.

Book Description:

When linguist Andrew Dennison is yanked from his bed by the Secret Service and taken to a top secret facility in the desert , he has no idea he's been brought there to translate the words of an ancient demon.

He joins pretty but cold veterinarian Sun Jones, eccentric molecular biologist Dr. Frank Belgium, and a hodge-podge of religious, military, and science personnel to try and figure out if the creature is, indeed, Satan.

But things quickly go bad, and very soon Andy isn't just fighting for his life, but the lives of everyone on earth...

ORIGIN by J.A. KonrathAll hell is about the break loose. For real.

So if you visit this blog and are helped by it, I ask you to spread the word.

I'm in. And will donate $100 to First Book as well if Origin hits top 100. I figure it's the least I can do. This blog has helped me as an author tremendously and the First Book sounds like a great cause.

I wanted to show my neighbor how cool my Kindle is. His wife has a Sony and it takes me 20+ minutes to figure out how to load a book on to it EVERY TIME she she buys new books. (Thank God she has started buying 3 at a time...more time between struggling with the Sony) So, I bought your book to show him how the Kindle works. He was amazed and will probably get her a Kindle for Mother's Day.

I left my last comment before reading everyone else's. To the one or two that are passing judgement because Joe made the donational conditional on making it to the top 100, I say get a grip. Who cares how the charity gets the money as long as they get it?

To Joe, I say, thanks for limiting the bowerbird crap. I usually just lurk here without posting, but I've been sick of that tripe for some time.

And since we are talking about getting kids to read, my sister has a "reading dog". He's a beautiful German Shepherd named Unkas that she takes to school so that the kids can read to him. He does not correct them, he does not judge them, and he does not intimidate them...he just listens. Kind of cool that he was named for a character from "Last of the Mohichans", too.

Wow, didn't see this coming. Honestly, Mr. Konrath's offer was no different than any other I've seen and participated in this past month. If his book doesn't fit, than there are others on here offering as well-if you're a writer you want people to be literate. I thought it was another great community effort. LOL bitchslap and a good cause all in one post!

I think it is a great idea to get a group of authors together and make a pledge to donate to the charity if the books reach the top 100 Amazon list.

Here are some reasons why:

1) The charity could earn a lot of money.

2) This is a popular and standard way to make sales for a business (independent authors in this case) and to generate money for a charity at the same time. Examples are numerous including Box Tops for Education, Labels for Education, and the hundreds of products branded with pink ribbons that donate a portion of proceeds to the Susan Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.

3) A group of authors doing this would generate a lot of publicity in regular ebook circles and beyond which in turn supports higher sales and more money for the charity.

4) The publicity would also raise the profile of independent authors in general. It is something that could become an annual event.

5) Maybe Amazon would even kick in a donation and/or assist in promotion since the sales are being directed towards Amazon's site.

This seems as good a place as any to tell all that I have been a reader here (though only for a short while), and on other blogs (for a little longer), because I am starting a serious push into the writing-and-self-publishing life. I much appreciate all of the help that Joe gives out here on his site, along with that of a few gracious others on theirs: Guido Henkel, Zoë Winters, Elizabeth Castro, April Hamilton, Amanda Hocking, et al.

I have also seen, in a surprisingly short span of time, a recurrence of vicious, disparaging, condescending, rude, and down-right vulgar posts, on various blogs, from a small number of very loud and stupid people.

I have just started my own blog to discuss my writing journey and to post obviously much-needed information on the basic rules of good writing (something of which those loudmouths often seem to lack, as they post their badly-constructed, poorly-punctuated rants).

My blog is called “Writing Kind” and it’s here on Blogger. There’s not much there, yet, and I’m still tweaking the design; I just started it tonight (because it’s my birthday).

If you want to come by and discuss something or learn something or tell us all something about writing, be my guest. However, be advised ahead of time: I, like Joe, will not put up with any nonsense.

I only wish I were an author to join in on a group thing, but I'm not yet so I bought your book. Joe..I'm new to your site and these past few weeks I've noticed that guy (we're not suppose to talk about) and I wondered why you allowed him on here. I only read 2 of his posts, reading his gave me a headache.I just wanted to say, I'm learning a ton from you and the other authors on here. It's nice to not have to see that kind of distraction anymore. I know you said not to talk about it on here but I can't figure out how to email you. *L*Thanks again for all the help you give on here.

I feel schizophrenic or something reading these comments after the originals have been deleted... :)

My father was severely dyslexic and never learned to read and write. Literacy and getting kids to read is a very very worthy cause. Kudos, Joe.

My daughter has inherited her grandfather's disability, but because I write for a living now, I can afford to have her tutored by a specialist in dyslexia. She's gone from reading at a 1st grade level to a 3rd grade one in less than a year. She's really READING now, and finally enjoying it. My father never experienced that, and it's sad. I wish there had been more programs around like First Book when he was young. They didn't have the money (or the know-how) to do anything for him. Instead he made potholders on looms because the teachers labeled him "unteachable." My father grew up poor and stayed poor his whole life because he couldn't read.

Now his daughter is writing books for a living and his granddaughter is learning to read with the same disability that kept him prisoner.

Wow, can somebody open a window? It is too full of negativity in here!

I bought my first Konrath book today as well. Actually about 1 minute after you tweeted it. What I figured was "Hey, I spend 1$ and $500 goes to a worthwhile charity!? Deal!" cause at a rank of 103 on the list you probably sell 10 and your their already. So from what i figure, you kinda lost money there. So hell, I think you are one hell of an awesome man giving money to such a worthwhile cause. Plus I get to read a NOVEL for $0.99 Don't listen to the nay sayers. You are alright in my book, and thanks for cleaning house finally. It was getting hard to breath in here.

See look at that. Konrath profits from an act of giving. S.J., I just bought yours as well. I hope, from the bottom of my heart, that both of you get a much larger audience and make 5 million this year. This is both sound business and generosity. why we have to see things from such a negative angle all the time... I will never figure that out. Life is so much more complicated than black and white. But this is white, no matter how you paint it.

having hard time reading on a kindle cause cant see the light gray on this 1st generation so well, but after the operation, will likely be able. BUT, I bought from B and N today, your The List in trade paper, Joe. You write a wicked dialogue, very distinguishable from the Jack books. That's not easy.

Re trolls, as moderator on a political news blog for last five years ...I admire your style for keeping the site clear. Huffpo this week also created a new comments policy I've been watching. Finally put my foot down this week too about all trolliana. No mas. Warned and warned-- and with respect. Now its 'warn' without the 'n' if that's what's needed. There is a poof! key on the keyboard I've discovered.

Re your offer--both of them-- to donate, I can only quote William Shakespeare's sister: Jealousy doth come dressed as a demeaning squaff. I dont know what a squaff is, but I think it's an edwardian word for 'troll'. Ok, I admit, just wanted to make you smile

thanks Joe. I thought your donation idea was just fine. We have La Sociedad de Guadalupe which is our non profit that contributes to adult literacy these last 20 years, (like Selena, but in different time, I come from people who could not read or write. They were wise in other ways, but as Selena said, so sadly locked away)... anyway, I can vouch that ANY money given to ANY non-profit raised in ANY way that will not get us all in legal trouble is most graciously received. When you're a 501.c.3, esp in these times, believe me you beat the bushes not twice but ten times in order to keep bringing aid to others.

Care to make that 5k for top 5? Actually think you've been more than generous already.

I think the criticism of Konrath's donation is completely unwarranted since the book was moving into the top 100 anyway. It's unlikely that he sold $500 worth to move it from #103 to #99.

And it has given far more publicity to First Book than if he had simply tweeted "Just made a $500 donation to First Book"

I plan to release my first two books in about a month and another 2 by the end of the year. Every copy sold will include a 10% donation to an animal care charity (either ASPCA or a local no-kill shelter). Konrath's "experiment" has now inspired me to include a ranking incentive with a bigger donation tied to rankings. which will hopefully increase the local media publicity for the charity.

If a book routinely retailed for, say, $4.99. And you dropped the price to 99 cents for charity, could you tax deduct the other four dollars as a charitable contribution? That’d net you, esp in your new tax bracket (something tells me you’ll vote Republican at the next election), a write off of 35% Fed, 15.3% Medicare/SS tax (I assume you’re paying both employer and employee side of it as a personal business), and the 5% IL state income tax… total 55%. So, 55% of 4 bucks is, what, $21.15 or something.

Just thinking outside the box for you. I have no idea because, admittedly, no one is getting the $4.

Certainly, your $500 is deductible.Hey, sometime it’d be nice to hear what your taxes are like as a self-published, independent author. My calculations have you paying about 55% in good old Illinois plus Federal.

Timely, as it’s tax season, and I think personally that few understand the tax burden of the self-employed. Your candor may help others put self-employment in perspective that way. Your candor is very informative, Joe. Thanks.

Definitely yes to the $1000 donation for a top 20 Origin spot. I'll spread the word to help make it a reality.

I loved the book - it was the first I read of your pre-Jack so called unpublishable books. Great concept, great delivery, great story altogether. I just hope that the rumored sequel to Origin & The List (called...The Nine?) sees the light of day sometime soon. What do you say Joe? Just write it. You've got nothing else in the works after all...

Still working on my own first book. It's a brainy thriller about zoo animals on the loose at a college...called HIPPOCAMPUS.

...bb dumping past due, thanks. I'm in on Origin...however, am thinking it needed no push from a blog post or charity promise...truly your heart is big JK; this today, the visiting authors, the massive resource of 'Newbie' for publishing, etc. All good and as a reader here for over a year, very typical Konrath. Thanks Again for being you.

But your disapproval of my actions serves a single purpose, and it isn't altruistic. It was you saying, "Joe isn't being generous, he's just self-promoting. True generosity isn't conditional."

Correct me if I'm reading you wrong, but that's the read I got. And it sounds to me like you're looking down upon my actions.

Which prompts me to ask, "When was the last time you donated $500 to charity?"

If you have, and kept quiet about you, you have the right to take the moral high ground.

If not, you're in a glass house, throwing stones.

Sorry, Joe, but I think you're being too self-effacing here. In reality, there was nothing conditional about your offer to donate $500 to that charity. Your book was at #103 when you made the offer, and you had to know with absolute certainty that you'd be writing that check. IIRC, you hit the Top 100 about half an hour after you posted the article.

My impression is that you probably decided to donate $500 first and the rest was just window dressing.

I've only been a Joe fan for maybe 3-4 months and it's because he offered a LOT of his books FOR FREE on a site that I found. I didn't know who he was as an author or if I'd like it - downloaded a couple and viola! I'm paying customer now.

I don't have $500, but I certainly have a buck or two. Like I said before, Joe's going to heaven with both shoes on.

Dang! Look what I wake up to this morning. I missed all the action last night. He who must not be named will have to play elsewhere, I guess.

Bought Origin and Journey into Darkness. I'm already a sucker for the stuff promoted on this blog so it was icing that some money will go to some great charities bc of my propensity to click, click, click.

Ahhh, been looking at buying this one for a while anyway. Sounded interesting. ;) Figured "why not?" Thanks for the discount, and the donation, Joe. Here's hoping you crank this one right to the top, too!

Count me in, too. But I'm realist. I'll go $250 if my book hits the top 1000. Top 100? I'm in for $500, as well.

Darklands: A Vampire's Tale

As for those questioning the integrity of doing this--here's the thing. Without sales, as a "starving author" I'm not in position to donate very much, but I'm always happy to share as much as I can. The more I sell, the more I can share.

I agree with rbt... Making this post when you'e at #103 already... yeah, sounds like you'd made up your mind anyhow.

Besides, to earn $500 at .99 list price, Joe has to sell 1500 copies. To make that $1000 donation, Joe has to sell 3000 copies. Still seems pretty altruistic.

I have sold zero point zero copies of my books, and probably wouldn't even with this kind of donation. I couldn't get twitter followers to save my life earlier this year - and I was donating $1/per new follower to RIF! I can't even get to 250 followers now when offering to give away a free cover or ebook design when I get there. If Joe's got something that works, and a charity gets helped, I'm cool with it. His donation is still better than many of the corporations' that I've worked for. AND he'll have to pay a CPA to process the paperwork allowing him to write off the donation.

@lundeenliteraryHi Jena,I follow you on twitter. I'm pretty sure Social Oomph https://www.socialoomph.com connected us. You just popped up one day on my feed. All sorts of people do that. Some I unfollow right away, others I continue to hang out with.

I'm hanging with you.

Is Socialoomph sending you followers? If not, you might like to sign up with them.

I have a free account and I use it to post updates to my two Twitter accounts at the same time or schedule posts in advance.

It's convenient when I remember to do it.

I'm @eloheimchannel and @channelers.

To bring this back to a bit more on topic, I'm on chapter 3 of Origins and have already received way more than $.99 worth of reading enjoyment.

Thanks Joe, for the book, and for the inspiration. I'm published because you showed me how to do it!

Read the first chapter last night. It seemed pretty good. I like when a book starts somewhere I've never been.

I'll get on it full-time as soon as I finish R.B. Parker's "Brimstone."

And I really appreciate this blog. My short story, "The Good Life" is starting to do pretty well. Nice to be "published." Working pretty hard on getting the novel done, hopefully it'll be up by the end of April.

It'll be ok, don't worry. Tonight, maybe you should relax, have a nice drink, and get a good night's sleep. Then tomorrow, you can come back here and POST LINKS TO YOUR BOOKS. ;) That way, we can have a look. What's the point of interacting with us, if we can't find your work? Maybe some of us can help with ideas, or at least encouragement. Maybe someone here buys a copy, or tweets a link, or gives you a review.

I know how you feel, and it sucks. Give yourself a break for now, then tackle it again tomorrow. You can do it!!!

I'm befuddled by a premise in some of the posts -- especially the posts from some of those trolls whom Joe has (thankfully) banished. It boils down to this:

Since when is a "win-win" arrangement subject to moral criticism? Because that's exactly what Joe's experiment amounts to. Everybody wins. Nobody loses.

The premise of Joe's critics is this: that for him to be a true moral exemplar, his charity's gain MUST come at his expense -- at his loss. Morality = "win-lose": charity wins, Joe loses. Because if he also gains something from the transaction, his action becomes morally tainted.

But why is "win-lose" more "moral" than "win-win"? Isn't the tacit premise here that life is a zero-sum game, and that for one person to benefit, somebody else must suffer?

As I see it, what Joe is doing here is the epitome of good ethics. He's taken an action in which everybody wins (including the charity, Joe, and his readers) -- and nobody loses (ditto).

Casey's link is no bueno, so here's a better one...http://www.amazon.com/Casey-Moreton/e/B001IYVMUE/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0

Some of those rankings aren't so terrible...

Casey, you said you re-edited. Was that very recently? As in, after the reviews with the comments regarding typos and errata in the text were posted? If so, it would be a good idea to respond via comment to each and every review that mentions typos and state that the typos have been taken care of. If you have control via KDP, and the files are *that* different, maybe you want to re-launch the books. That might help with the low reviews which are talking about the grammar/typo problems. You could then start fresh with each title without the weight of the reviews.

Starting a thread looking for reviews on Kindleboards is a good idea. Gift some reviewers with copies to review. That will boost your rankings and positive visibility.

Your two best reviewed books are your trad pub ones, which reinforces what you said about the editing, but those are priced too high (not your fault).

Your book pages from the books published via Maroon Road do not connect properly with your Amazon author page, but your Simon and Schuster titles do. By the author name at the top of the book page, there should be a down arrow to connect to your author page, but that isn't happening. Email Amazon to sort that out, because that's not getting you cross-sales via your author name/ page / etc. Besides, you want people to click and see those Remington Steele good looks. MEOW! Nice photo! That pops up with even the most idle mouse-over. That's good for sales, trust me.

You have next to no proper tags. Select 15 tags for your book, including genre and related info. Make these as effective as possible. Then join an author tag exchange like on Kindleboards and get those tag numbers up. That will boost your visibility and rankings.

One or two of your covers could be better at the small Amazon thumbnail size.

The prices for your Nook versions are shittastically awful, but I suspect that's beyond your control. No one will pay $11.99 for a 2-star nook book when B&N lists a used paperback version for $1.99. Talk to your publishers. Maybe you can score those rights back, from the look of those pub dates (2004, 2007).

Only 2 of your books are available on the Nook - you can upload to them much like for the Kindle. Get them available stat.

You said you had 2 good things happen book-wise for you in 17 years. Congratulations! That's 2 more than me in the same time frame. I'm not going to tell you that this is easy, but things will get better. I'm sure others will chime in here, too, and maybe we can point you in the right direction.

@Lundeen..Thank you for giving Casey the advice you did. I was wondering where exactly one would find someone to review what they wrote before it was submitted. I just finished my first one and I would love to find someone to read it and tell me their honest opinion. I have tough skin, so if it's shit I want to know.

As I said, Kindleboards is a good place to start. You can make a post there and usually get a decent response. Also, there are tons of online writers groups and critique groups, but you're expected to critique as well. Find one via Google search for your genre and prepare to make new friends!

I'm doing mostly listening (maybe all listening) at this point, rather than commenting, but like Gabriella, I wanted to thank you for your thoughtful reply to Casey, I copied it and saved it, it's great information.

Joe, I bought Origin when it was well past the 100-mark but before you offered another $500. I don't understand this attitude that proper giving to charity only comes in the form of Golden Money from Heaven; it's hard to come by, and the exchange rate is lousy.

@Lundeen...Thank you very much! I too have copied and pasted what you have said. Everybody on here is much further than I am so it's nice to have someone point me in the right direction. Thanks again! :)